Mostly History Links

I’ve never been inclined toward historical activities. For example, Society for Creative Anacronism was a huge hobby of a number of my friends in college, but it never appealed to me. I never took history electives in school. I thought I understood the proverbs “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” and “history is written by the winners,” but over the years, I have come to understand how much I did not and do not fully grasp them. I’ve also learned that school history is some watered-down, whitewashed bullshit and history is way more interesting (if also more traumatic at times) than what I learned in school. So, with that in mind, I present today’s “blather” links. Including, for good measure, one interesting present-day link that might be relevant to how today will be “history” in thirty years.

First up, did you know President Woodrow Wilson was incredibly racist? I sure didn’t, which means I also didn’t know some of the activities he engaged in to codify that racism. But protestors at Princeton University have helped bring these sorts of stories to a broader audience. And it’s important stuff to know. If incredibly depressing and, for me at least, mind-boggling in ways. How can anyone think that someone held in slavery was “never established in any habit of prudence”? That’s some high-level ridiculousness there.

Did you know there was a “male hysteria” type of diagnosis in the late 1800s? This is how we got the “lumberjack” mythos of the U.S. and, if I’m reading this right, also the “cowboy” mythos. And reading that combination of words immediately makes me put on headphones and watch the video for Where Have All the Cowboys Gone. Partially, I must admit, because an ex-boyfriend of not quite 20 years ago complained that all she was saying was “Where have all the real men gone?” My response was a simple, “Yeah.” He wasn’t thrilled. I had no idea how connected those ideas where back then, but I have a better sense now with this piece.

Last of the Teddy Girls. I love this, and I love the styling. Fascinating and beautiful. I may actively work to learn more about this.

A federal anti-swatting bill is useful for the most classic reason why any federal legislation is useful: because interstate hijinks make prosecuting swatting kind of complicated. It sometimes surprises me that swatting can be so difficult to protect against and/or see charges around. Not just because of the terror and possible damage to the victim of the potential swatting, but to the police who are dispatched and may end up killing someone because some jackhole on the other end of the line thought it would be funny. I see the usefulness of a federal level bill regarding swatting.